Waiting For You
by Marj
Summary: In an alternate universe where Oogami found himself staying in Paris longer than he had hoped, his thoughts returned to a young maiden back home...


_Disclaimer:_ Sakura Taisen is owned by Sega and Red Entertainment. Quotes from the Sakura Taisen 2 game, indicated by italicized sentences in quotation marks, came from Kayama-san's translation. I am not making a profit out of this fanfic, but still, this particular story is mine, so please don't take it.

* * *

_". . . From here on, please stay with me for a long time . . ."_

_"All right. From here on . . . I'll be with you for a long time . . ."_

* * *

I gazed out of the window from inside my room, my eyes roaming the beautiful landscape of the city of Paris as the wind swept through my hair.

It has been more than a year since I had left Teito Tokyo for my new home, and still it seemed to have been forever. The girls here at Pari Kagekidan had managed to keep my mind off the work – and the people – I had left behind in Tokyo, and life had been quite comfortable.

Yet this did not mean that I had forgotten all about Teikoku Kagekidan's own Hanagumi. Though we had lost contact over time – the kinematron Kohran gave me broke a while back and nobody here knew how to fix it – there was one person who never failed to send letters when the rest have all but stopped. Reading her letters made me reminisce my past, and wonder what could have been yet never became.

I know it's quite unfair of me to smile at Erica's clumsiness and yet remember someone else. Yet it is hard to forget about someone you had cared about for more than four years, and had been generally accepted by her family. At least, that was how I understood it when I accompanied her home so long ago. And then to be parted just when we thought that we would finally be together in a Teito that we had defended . . . in a Teito of peace . . .

Sakura . . . hasn't written lately.

I haven't heard much news about Teito from the administration here, but her lack of letters had led me to believe that the Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi had to defend Teito once more. Otherwise, why would she stop writing?

If there was a battle raging in Teito, who was their leader? Had Maria accepted her original role as company commander? Or had Yoneda-shirei found a replacement for me? Had Kayama taken over?

My thoughts were disturbed when a knock on the door interrupted me. Minutes later, I was sitting on a chair in front of my desk, opening a letter with a small opener that was a reminiscent of a katana.

A katana. Sakura's weapon of choice . . .

It wasn't her. Still, it was news. And it was Iris.

The letter was written in beautiful script. Sakura had once told me that she continued to assist Iris in her studies after I had left, and that Iris was now a beautiful and mature teenager. Her short, concise . . . and urgent . . . letter attested to the level of maturity she had gained.

Minutes later, I was packing my bags, determined to make it back to Japan.

Of course I was seen. By Erica, no less. She strode into my room unannounced, intending to surprise me with pastries she herself had prepared, only to be the one who was shocked when she saw my luggage.

"Where are you going?" Erica asked me with her innocent smile.

It hurt to see her looking at me so expectedly. It would not do good if I would lie, though, so I told her the truth. "I'm going home . . ."

"But . . . but I thought that this was your home now." Erica's face was full of worry. I'm just not sure if it was because she was afraid I was leaving her or if it had to do with her next question. "Did something happen back in Japan? Is there a battle?"

It was a battle for me. A battle against the turmoil that raged within me. "The cherry blossoms have come in full bloom. Peace has returned . . ." I quoted from a well-kept letter, and added, "As for myself, I have done my duty here. Though I would love to stay longer . . . someone needs me back at home."

"And you are leaving m . . . us. Yet it does not bother you . . . ?" she asked quietly. She need not hide that the "us" she mentioned referred to her. I was not leaving the Pari Kagekidan. I was leaving her.

Her gaze landed on the letter as I stood speechless. She picked it up and read the fine print. And I did nothing to stop her. Perhaps this would make parting easier for the both of us.

"So you are willing to leave me . . . for this girl. She, perhaps, is another person special in your life? Or has she always been?"

After everything that we have gone through? After supporting her through all the misfortunes life had given her? Yes. She was a very special person to me.

"Forgive me. I know I am selfish . . . but I cannot let her go."

"What makes you think that she is still there, waiting for you, when you return?"

"I . . . hold on to a promise, even if the ship it stands on is sinking."

"Then I wish I was this girl to whom you have devoted yourself to."

Once I had devoted myself to the service. Yet love is an overpowering force. "Ai Yueni," as a memorable play had said, one of which she had starred in herself. Yet would this also end in the same way as the drama had?

"How was she able to do it?" Erica continued quietly, not waiting for me to comment on what she had said.

"She was born with the power."

"Why?"

"She was a woman of peace."

"And . . . where did . . ."

My heard danced at the memory of the cherry blossoms in the beautiful place where I first saw her. "Ueno-kouen."

"Do you . . ."

"Yes."

It was not long before I was riding on a train, the disappearing station of Paris reminiscent of the disappearing dock when I had first left Tokyo.

And as I looked at Erica, my heart constricted at the thought of unintentionally deceiving her.

Yet it would not do to pursue something unrequited, only to hurt ourselves afterwards.

It was better this way.

And Iris's letter crumpled underneath my clenched fists.

* * *

_Onii-chan,_

_During your absence, we have encountered new threats to Teito's  
sanctity. In the events that followed, the Sanshu no Jinki were brought out of  
hiding._

_The Hanagumi tried to stop her, but onee-chan wanted the wars to  
stop. She sealed the koumas away._

_Onii-chan, she is waiting for you . . ._

_Iris_

* * *

Perhaps Yoneda-shirei was correct to warn the both of us not to let our feelings cloud our judgment. But doing so parted me from her side.

I will not lose her.

Sakura-kun, I'm coming . . .

* * *

_"Oogami-san . . . please go . . . to France._

_I'll . . . . . be all right . . . . ."_

* * *

There was a reason why I destroyed the Majinki back then. Yes, part of it was that I did not want Sakura to die needlessly, not when we can defend Teito on our own. But in truth, what was running through my mind back then was that I was afraid of losing her . . . afraid of what could possibly happen . . . what she might decide on whenever she is out of my sight. I did not want to feel helpless . . . did not want to feel that perhaps I could have done more to prevent her from choosing the same fate as her father's.

Who would have thought that the Sanshu no Jinki would also bring about the same effects?

Would everything have happened differently if I never left Teito? If I never left her? Was the situation really that desperate enough for her to decide to take her own life?

Are these people really worth it?

No . . . I can't think that way. I refuse to become as Yamazaki Shinnosuke had.

"The shihainin . . . had decided to take her home," Kasumi informed me moments after my arrival at the Teigeki. "He, Kaede-san, and the Hanagumi . . . they have taken her to Sendai."

I remember. Colonel Shinguuji . . . Sakura's father . . . though they kept his room as he had left it, he would never come back home.

Fate would be cruel if Sakura's mother would once more suffer the same loss as she had, so many years ago . . .

Yoneda-shirei. How does he feel, knowing that yet another Shinguuji . . . in his hands . . .

I raced to Sendai, trying to ignore the thought that was creeping through the back of my mind. That I was too late . . .

Upon reaching her birthplace, I ran towards the manor as fast as I could remember.

When I saw her, surrounded by family and friends, she looked almost ethereal. Yet when our eyes finally met after my long period of absence, she smiled.

And I wept.

* * *

_"Parting is a painful thing, but hold tight in your heart the joy you had when we met."_

* * *

_--Owari--_

* * *

_____Story Notes:_  
"onee-chan" - big sister  
"onii-chan" - big brother  
"shirei" - commander  
"shihainin" - manager  
"Ueno-kouen" - Ueno Park

_____Author's Notes:  
_I'm not sure why, but I feel like I owe an explanation to someone for some odd reason...

This is actually a veeery old fic of mine that I found in my computer today. I hardly paid attention to it before, since it was just labeled "sakurawars" with no other indication that it was actually a story (it didn't even have a title!). Looking at it now, I can recall working on it in a time when Sakura Taisen 3 was still relatively new, and that I was upset that Oogami had left the old cast behind for the Paris Kagekidan, plus a little bitter that he had made a promise to Sakura that he did not keep (that "stay with me for a long time" bit). I didn't know back then that he would return to Japan at the end of the game, thus the reason why he seemed to have been gone from Tokyo for such a long time in this fic (and making it part of an alternate universe... heh).

I have no idea why I had not posted it before. Maybe it was because I haven't heard of this site back then? If I did, maybe I didn't have enough confidence to open an account here at that time? I'll never know.

The fic above isn't exactly as I had found it though - I had made a few changes before uploading it. Instead of a restored Majinki, I substituted it for the Sanshu no Jinki. These are actually the real sacred treasures in Japan (when I looked it up in Wikipedia, though, it's spelled as "Jingi"), and that the Majinki was a "shadow" version of it ("majinki" apparently meaning "demon-jinki"). The rest, however, is left intact, including the quotes from the second game.


End file.
